Other Voices

Dell Deal: The Same as Insider Trading

By its nature, a leveraged buyout by corporate insiders is a betrayal of their fiduciary duty to other shareholders.

Now for a few words about the proposed leveraged buyout of Dell, the estimable Michael S. Dell himself, and law and ethics.

We all like to make money on stocks. We all like to find a company whose stock price -- for any reason -- doesn't come even close to its real asset value, or its value if it were cleverly reorganized and produced better earnings. We like to then buy the stock and hope that the real value comes out in the...